FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 2

Well, I was making my to the tavern like we always do. While you were home sick like the mutt you are. "Hey no slapping!" Anywho, I wasn't sure how much the medicine would cost so I decided to go for one more run just to be safe. The pub was filled like it always was, scents of twenty or so different species filled the room along with the normal tobacco and ale. The candles were extinguished as there was enough light coming through from the windows. I made my way to the back of the room near to where the stairs were that led to the rooms for rent. My eyes wavered over the crowd trying to spot out who was the most vulnerable to my thievery. I spotted a bear near the center of the room, he was wearing some pretty well made habiliments so of course he would be the one to carry more money with him than necessary, he probably lived in the castle after all. As he was talking to a group of his buddies I snuck up and grabbed his coin purse, no big deal. They were so clueless, they mustn't have done their research before they came to this part of town.

I slipped away to the back of the room again and tucked the purse into the hidden pocket inside my pants. It felt pretty heavy, I could have went to the surgeon and got the medicine with that money alone but agai, I didn't know how much it would cost so I scoped out another group that might have a good pay day. Like the bear, the four of them were all pretty decent sized but instead wore some hide clothes and simple breeches. One even had a hood that covered his face. they sat at a wooden booth that was against the back wall, a few pies and wine bottles littered the table. I watched as one of them got up, he was a gator or a crocodile. "I can never tell the difference between the two, potato patato am I right?"

With a silly wavering walk he made his way to the bar, that's when I intervened. After he gave the barkeep a few coppers and tucked the remaining coin into his purse, I pulled it right back out. As I was about to walk away he turned around bottle in hand and bumped into me. "Sorry about that buddy." He chuckled in a very raspy way. I gave him a curt nod and made my way to the exit and walked out, his purse still in paw. "He apologized to me! Can you believe it?". This is where it gets interesting, "and yes Garvo you did 'call it' as you'll hear in a second". As I was about to make my way back to you, I was met with a familiar that hood then the unfamiliar feeling of a fist flying into my jaw.

My fall backwards was interrupted by a pair of scaly paws grabbing me by my arms. Unable to put up a fight, I was led to the alley behind the tavern. Stars danced across my eyelids, a throbbing pain started to radiate from the right side of my jaw. I was dumped up against the wall and landed on landed on my tail, instantly making me jump in pain.

"Well kid, I'm impressed. That doesn't happen very often does it boys?" A pronounced voice rang out in my ears followed by a chorus of devious laughter from the others. My vision started to clear after I realized what was going on.

"Now, do you know what you just did?" I was at a loss of what to say. A striped orange foot flew into my ribs with a crack. I let out a yelp as the wind was forcibly knocked from my lungs. " Answer the question." The voice dryly rang out.

A series of coughs and gasps left me as I tried to let out a simple no. He got the idea.

"You my poor friend, just took my money." I could feel myself start to shake thinking, so this is how I die. In an alley drunk people use as a lou behind of a tavern. "Luckily for you, you can pay me back." The hooded figure gave a curt nod as me, a pair of paws reached for my pockets. They were met with nothing but, they knew better. The gray paws on me unsheathed their claws and cut the area of where my pockets were, finding the hiden pocket and coin purse. The Jaguar tossed it to the hooded figure. His ropey tail curled around the front of his leg and wrapped around it, making it clear to me to whom I just stole from. There was only one tiger in all of Davi that had risen to fame by this type of work.

"S-stop my friend needs it!" I gasped out in pain as if he would care.

"Oh really, now?" He cut the purse open with his claws and counted out the coins. "What does your 'friend' need with, five gold!? Oh Saint Felis, that's one hell of a lift kit!".

" Yes, yes I know Garvo I couldn't believe I stole five gold either. Then uh, got it stolen. We could have rented a real house for years with that money. Anyway, back to the story."

"He's sick." I blurted out unsure, my mind was still spinning with how much I held in my paws mere moments ago. The tiger known as Brenner let out an intimidating chuckle, letting his fangs shine out to the world.

"Of course he is." He knelt down and took my jaw in his paw, pulling upwards so we could make eye contact. My eyes met his for just a moment before flicking away. " Oh don't worry, I'm not going to kill ya. Eh, not anymore anyway." He moved his head closer to mine, making us nose to nose. His golden eyes penetrated into my soul, his breath was a mixture of some cheap mead and and half digested food. " This." He raised the ripped purse up. "Just gave you a way out of here. Alive." He paused to emphasize his point.

"What do you mean?" I whispered out, finally able to catch my breath.

"You ,being the nice rat you are are going to apologize to me."

I hesitated a moment. "I'm sorry?" I slowly drew out.

"Oh no no no, it's not that easy. You have to earn my acceptance of said apology. I'm sorry!" He childishly squealed." Doesn't cut it, I need to know that I can trust you." "I promise you that you'll never." He interrupted.

"See you again? Yeah I've heard that before but, that's the opposite of what I want. With your dumb luck and swift fingers you're useful to me. Carmine here didn't even feel you take the money. The only reason we knew you stole it was because we were watching you. You're good, but any common crook can see when another is at work." He stood up by a slow bounce with his knees and put all his weight on his paw, which happened to be placed on my head. I can still feel those claws digging into me to this day.

"We can hash out the details later, Carmine be a dear help the kit up will you?" Carmine responded with a gruff "Yes sir." Quickly and none to gently he did so. Once I was up he took a hold of my shoulder, his one cold paw covered the entire side of my right shoulder stopping me from walking.

"What are you doing?" I asked uncertain.

"Bringing you back to our home of course! We need to go over about how you're going to apologize." Brenner told me proudly.

"But what about my friend?"

"Oh, you were serious? I thought you were just making an excuse. You aren't are you?" He gleefully threatened. I ignored him.

Mavis stopped his story to get a take a deep shaky breath, he dropped his paw onto Garvo's head that rested on his lap and started to pet him calmly.

"I need to get him medicine." I told him with more bravery than I felt.

He let a smile grow across his muzzle. "Where does this friend of yours reside?" I felt what little bravery I had drain away, along with what felt like my blood.

"I. I'm not at liberty to say." I almost whimpered to him.

"I'm five gold richer kit thanks to you! The least I can do is offer my generosity and pay for their medicine." He waved the bag in my face again, daring me to take a swipe at at. I kept my muzzle shut. "Alright his loss. Boys, you know what to do." The next thing I knew a sack was brought over my head and I was being slung over a rough scaled shoulder.

"Don't struggle, if you do I'm going to have to hit you on the head." Carmine's scratchy voice warned. After that, we spent, well, they spent maybe a good twenty minutes walking? It felt as if it were the entire week, so that's my most realistic guess.

At the end of the walk I was dropped onto my feet without warning, causing me to wobble and fall backwards. This caused a few laughs to come from them and a low growl from me. Someone brought me to my feet and started lead me a few feet forward until a paw on my chest stopped me.

"Bend over and reach for the ground, there is a ladder that will lead you down." A voice that wasn't Brenner's or Carmine's instructed me. Tentatively I did what he asked, it's not like I had much of a choice anyway. A grimy, sticky steel rod made contact with my paw. I reached for the other and started my way down the ladder slowly so that I didn't fall.

After that, I spent a few minutes walking in a foul smelling disease ridden area following the directions of. " Right, left ,straight." Over and over again in different orders. I tried figuring out where I was but with the smell of something worse than death and the constant dripping and splashing of water I couldn't even tell if I was on this world or another.

Not soon enough we made it to a spot where the bag on my head was pulled off. My eyes were already adjusted to the dark so, I could easily see around. What surrounded me were dozens of figures either in chairs playing cards or talking to one another, all of whom had their eyes on me.

I straightened my back to look less terrified, I couldn't do anything for the shakes controlling my body.

We only steal coins and food from people who can afford it, we are barely criminals but these people? I was the only thing that wasn't a monster down there.

I ended up waiting around a bit for Brenner to come back from gods know where. When he did show up it was a foreboding sight. Streaks of red covered his clothes, his paws lost their stripes and became only a deep shade of crimson. From the metallic smell in the air I could most certainly tell it wasn't wine.

"It just occured to me that I never got your name kit." Brenner threw a paw at me, splattering the ground as well as myself with some of the red icor. I acted like the blood wasn't there.

"My name's Mavis." I answered.

"Nice to meet you Marvin. Now, let's talk about what you're going to do for an apology." He motioned a paw that told me to follow him. Without thinking I did that, still pretending that my heart wasn't about to explode. Carmine finally stopped tailing me, it's not like he had to with the crowd of murderers and criminals around him.

He led me to the back area of the rounded sewer system room we were in, there were four long lines of hallways on each wall. Taking space of the room were shabbily made furniture and a small bar that was against the left stone wall. Rickety chairs and tables were filled with patrons or people conversing in the only safe pace they know. Funny how this is a haven from some and a final resting place for most, what it was for me was still unknown at the time. As we got close to the brick slick, nasty wall I noticed a metal door framed inside of it with two guards on the side of it, one was brown bison the other was an tall arctic wolf. They quickly moved aside as they saw the tiger coming their way. "Hello sir." They spoke, Brenner responded with a wave of his paw. He reached for the rusted latch on the door and pulled it up, a light shown through the open crack.

Brenner pushed the door open with a terrifying creak, the heavy door menacingly moved slowly against his force. Once he moved out of my way a spotless simple bedroom was what greeted me, catching me off guard. I followed Brenner inside, one of the goons closed the door behind me with a bang. An entire dining room lay opposite of the bedroom, a solid maple table stood at the center, four pristine matching chairs were with it. There was no maple trees in Gratis Nanam.this, along with who knows what were imported from somewhere at a very very high price. A floor made from the same stone as the rest of the sewer was as clean as the room itself, remnants of what previously flowed on it was a forgotten memory. I almost felt out of place being in such an innocent place then, I looked back to Brenner remembering that this wasn't as innocent as it looks.

"Sit." Brenner dryly ordered more than asked. With no hesitation I followed him to the dining room and sat down in one of the chairs. He walked away and went into a room that was connected to the corner of the dining room. He was there long enough for me to get a long look around the room and think of an escape that would never work. He came back in a new tan hide shirt, none of the previous liquid covered his body any more.

"Sorry for the wait." He sarcastically moped. " Now, as you can probably tell I'm some sort of clean freak when it comes to this room. See, this is the place where I can let my fur down. Oh, my safe place! That's what the word I was looking for. This is my safe place. You see, I don't have to worry about getting a knife to the back or getting my purse stolen here. When you stole Carmine's coin you didn't steal his coin. You stole mine, the only way he's got that coin is because of me, the only thing that I despise worse than thieves are nobels. See, Murderers and assassins face their challenges head on. Thieves however, run away like children if their target catches them, Murderers take out their problem. Thieves run away from it." He somberly explained." Now don't get me wrong, running away is what makes a good thief. But, when a thief is able to take someone's belongings without worrying about consequence and can make a legal living off of it they become a noble. This may all sound out of place right now, but I promise it will make sense soon " His claws that I thought should be digging in the table were calmly sheathed.

I was unsure of this I mean, a noble is just a rich person that has land or is on the king's counsel. Sure, most of them have stolen from their people but. Where is he going with this?

"Okay?" I drew out unsure.

"If you were to let's say, become a noble, how do you think you'd do?" He simply asked.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not following anything that you've been saying." I truthfully informed.

"If you were to become a noble, how do you think you'd do?" He answered again with no change to his voice.

"I uh, could probably do better than any of the ones that we have on the king's court. I mean, they should be helping us out but none of them grew up like we have, or at least I have. They have no idea of what the world is really like without a castle or mansion surrounding them." I curtly answered. That brought a smile to his face, revealing his sharp yellow fangs. He looked directly into my eyes.

"Kit, I have just the way for you to apologize to me."

Mavis let out a drawn out yawn, Garvo naturally copied.

"I think I'm going to have to finish tomorrow." Mavis mumbled to the fox as he looked through the exit on the wall and saw an inky blackness that was the sky.

"But you didn't even tell me why you were away, or how you got my medicine!" Garvo mewled like a pup.

"Medicine? I didn't get you medicine..." Mavis paused, then the realization hit him ." He actually kept his word."

Garvo perked up and took his head off of Mavis's lap.

"Brenner?"

"Brenner." Mavis confirmed. Garvo got up and went to opposite corner of the room and pulled out two dirty cups from a chest. He filled them up in a dirty bucket next to it. "Tell me, does dirt and dust add flavor to water or?" Mavis let the fake question hang. "Oh I'm sorry Sir want me to stop at the castle and get water from the icebergs of Skelije?" Garvo shot back smugly. Mavis's lips arched in a gentle smile.

" I missed this." Garvo announced as he handed his friend one of the cups.

"Me too." Mavis admitted as he wiped the rim of the cup with his sleeve.

"My, you really did change." The fox told him.

"How's that?" He quirked his head curious.

"Before, if you watched me dip my entire tongue in that cup you would insult me and then drink with no problem. Now, if I did that you would have me clean the entire cup."

"Of course I would that's disgusting!" Mavis confirmed.

"Mavis, we grew up sharing food and bathing water. And on top of that we're nothing more than dirty pickpockets." Garvo dryly responded.

"And?" Garvo let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, I'm just tired and I've had a really long day. I guess I'm just reading into things too much."

"I'm sorry too, it's been the day's been long for me to." Garvo held back a snap about him being the one not knowing if his only family was dead or not. Instead, he put down his cup and went around to extinguish each candle in the room. Mavis took the pillows from behind his back and placed them at the head to the cocoon of blankets, saving one for himself.

Garvo made his way back and took a swig from his cup and let out an audible "Aaah" of satisfaction. He fell back on his makeshift bed, leaving the left side for Mavis. "Goodnight. We'll finish this in the morning." He rolled over onto his left side, facing away from Mavis and brought his tail over his hip and against his chest. A habit he's had since childhood. "Night." Mavis responded, making a few rustles of movement's before going silent.

They stayed in silence unsure of what to say to each other to break the awkwardness. After about twenty minutes of them staying silent Garvo finally asked what's been on his mind the entire evening.

"Will you be here when I wake up?" He waited a tense moment for a response but didn't get any, thinking either Mavis fell asleep

A quiet "Yes." Came from Mavis. Garvo wiped his eyes discreetly and burrowed his head deeper into his pillow. A tentative fell asleep over them, both not able to stay sleeping before quickly waking up again.

.......

A peaceful melody made it's way through the air, birds going about their usual morning routines tweeting to one another in a tranquil dialect. The pink Sun was just rising over Davi's horizon, the Moon was still brightly shining in the air but was gradually making its way towards the distant lands. The streets were just starting to get busy with the faithful going to their respective churches.

Garvo opened his azure eyes with reluctance, the sun's light was bouncing off of the wall in front of him naturally waking him up. Typically he would spend his nights scoping out a wealthier place of business before not so legally entering and 'borrowing' coin or other goods from them. Being able to catch up on sleep was a gift that was not always given to him. He groggily blinked the fog from his eyes and let out a yawn, letting his dexterous tongue moisten his mouth. He pushed himself onto his rump and started his usual stretches, a dozing furry figure met the corner of his eye reminding him of why he was able to catch up on sleep. Happiness filled Garvo's body, then anger, followed by sadness, and finally hunger. He reached out to the cup next to him and finished it's room temperature contents. Trying not to disturb Mavis, he got up haltingly and made sure his claws didn't patter on the floor.

He picked up Mavis's almost full cup and brought back to the bucket, emptied it, and put the cups back. Usually he went out when everyone was just leaving their services before getting something to eat, food was easier to take that way. Now that the people were just getting in, he didn't have a plan. Garvo didn't want to leave, in fear that Mavis would leave him but he also didn't want to stay and waste precious day time. He made his way back to his bed thinking of getting some more sleep instead, as he crouched down he got blinded by the sun from the open entrance. Giving the now partially blind fox an idea. Garvo turned around and made his way to the wall and climbed up the entrance until he made it onto the roof. Once he was there he simply sat down to enjoy the view that wasn't there yesterday.

He watched as each cloud made it's way across the sky. They went from a solid white to a beautiful gold as they drifted across the sun, a gentle breeze swayed the verdant trees in the distance. The smells of the bakeries and taverns starting their ovens clouded the air, replacing the stench of sickness and the multitudes of ales and meads. Garvo let his mind stop working for this precious time to enjoy the little things that make up his world.

Too soon enough he could hear a rustling coming from inside his abode followed by a muffled yawn. He reluctantly pushed himself off of the tan tiles and didn't bother to wipe his pants of dirt or grime. Taking one last glance at the sky he made his way back into his cozy little home.

Mavis was sitting up with one of the many blankets circling around him. "Good morning. Cold?" Garvo asked and pointed to the blanket around him.

"Just comfortable." He tiredly mumbled in return, both of them were never really morning people.

"You want to go out and find a meal?" Garvo barely restrained an excited yelp as he asked.

"M'kay." Mavis let a yawn escape his muzzle and let a stretch move his body. Garvo went to fetch a small tattered knapsack from one of the rafters, as well as some coins. He felt a tiny bit bad about not having chipped in from yesterday's lunch. Mavis was taking his time in getting up, he made sure to stretch his arms first, then his back, and finally his legs.

"What do you feel like eating?" Garvo brightly asked.

"Anything but oranges." The rat spat out out.

"Um. May I ask why we should avoid such a specific meal?" He chuckled at the comment, there weren't many oranges in Davi they had to be imported from somewhere else. They have plenty of potatoes though.

"I have had oranges for almost three hundred at sixty five days straight."

"Should I ask why or will you explain that later?" Garvo warily asked.

"All in due time my ugly friend." Mavis lovingly told the fox who forgot to fix his ruffled fur around his face when he woke up, leaving him with the left side of his muzzle flat while the other was poofed out.

Garvo took a deep gasp and brought a paw to his muzzle, finally noticing his predicament. He hurriedly scratched at his face, glaring at his laughing friend.

" How does soup from Good Neighbor sound?" Mavis asked mid yawn.

Garvo responded with a growl and stumbled to the exit/entrance. Mavis followed his trail and playfully swatted at the white tipped tail waving in front of his waist. In retaliation Garvo swung his tail up and lightly whapped him in the muzzle.

"If you expect me to chase after you this early in the morning you really are crazy." Mavis vexed.

"You started it." Garvo retaliated as he made his way once again to the roof. Mavis followed suit and clumsily climbed out the hole. Once there, they made their way down the ladder and entered the empty streets. With services going on only a small amount of people stayed behind to spend their time on something of more importance. At the end of the war twelve years ago a great religious awakening started. The majority of citizens in Davi saw it as a new page in Nanam's history, they believed that their god or gods helped free them from Brimiam's clutches. Garvo on the other hand, saw fools flocking towards a false idol.

"So uh, about that orange thing." Mavis spoke out as he moved to be side by side with Garvo when they hopped off the ladder.. The fox flicked an ear at him in interest. " The 'company' I was with was addicted to them, always had one with every meal of the day. I know it seems like such a small thing but imagine having to have the same smell and taste on your muzzle every day for an entire year, and don't get me started on the sticky paws!" Mavis clipped as he wrung out his paws on his clean pants.

"I know what you mean, I've been having either bread and water or just water for breakfast everyday for the past twelve years. With a few exceptions from time to time." Garvo reminded.

"Yeah, but bread and water doesn't have any taste and they're not sticky. My tongue is forever stained with the sweetness of an orange." He dragged his buck teeth over his tongue trying to scrape off a substance that wasn't there.

They kept up the small talk as they neared Good Neighbor, straying away from talk of Mavis's story.

A quaint wooden shack stood on the corner of the street, a brightly painted red sign made up the shacks name along with a blue image of a feral pig on a spit roast. It's western styled door was open, inviting anyone in from off the streets to take a peek at what was inside even if only for a moment.

Garvo stepped to the side and extended his arm and bowed. "After you mon ami."

"Merci." Mavis gave an overzealous curtsy and strode into the small family oriented bar. There was only a bison and a few other horned customers sitting at the bar's counter. Mavis went strode to the free side of the bar and hopped up on a wooden stool, Garvo took the one next next to him. A slightly overweight boar came out from the back room and strode toward his new customers with a smile and wearing a clean pin striped shirt and green pants that had dirt staining it's cuffs..

"Morning friends. What can I get you?" He snorted.

"Just two soups, surprise us on what kind." Mavis ordered.

" Four copper please."Mavis reached for his purse but Garvo beat him to it and handed the man the payment. "It will be out soon." The man pocketed the coin and went back to the room he came from.

A chorus of laughter came from the group away from them. "You didn't have to do that." Mavis bemused as he looked at Garvo.

"You know how I feel about not pulling my own weight. You got the food yesterday, at least let me get this." The fox responded.

"Trust me, I've got plenty of money."

"How much is plenty?" Garvo questioned.

"I have five silver left on me and more than a few gold stashed away." He answered to the now speechless fox. Not very often does that happen to such a vocal species.

"W-wha..." Garvo trailed.

"Yeah, I was given with a really good job to apologize to Brenner. And there's a continuous pay out." Mavis smiled brightly to his friend and emphasized the and.

The group away from them went silent. Garvo turned to face them and saw that they were all glancing his way.

"Um, are they looking at you or me?" Garvo questioned Mavis.

" I want to say they saw me and were blown away with my good looks but, I'm not sure if this is the time for comedy or not." Mavis responded as he casually turned to face the fox with a fake smile on his face. Garvo forced his head to swivel away and let out a bellowing laugh. Mavis caught on. " I can't believe it! We have to go back, your daughter can't be left alone!" The fox played rasped out in between laughs. "Keep the copper sir we'll be back in an hour or so." Garvo called out to the boar in the other room. They slid off their stools and calmly made their way to the door. They didn't make it sadly, not everyone's as easily able to trick.

"Where do you think your going fox!" The bull boomed as he stood up and made his way towards them.

"You see, my friend's daughter here..." Garvo barely kept the facade up.

"Oh no." The bull tilted his head to the side and loudly popped his neck. "I remember you. You're the bugger that took my coin yesterday at the Beast." He thundered.

"The beast? What on earth?" Garvo kept up his failing act. The man reached down and grabbed at Garvo's shirt collar.

"You're not getting out of this, you didn't even bother to change from yesterday." The foxes jig was up so, he relied on his failing wit.

"Well, what you left me yesterday wasn't enough for a new set of rags I had to come back for seconds. Do you want to donate some more." Mavis saw the bulls lip curl in anger as he set his jaw.

"Wait! How much did he take, I can pay you back!" Mavis yelled out. Garvo got shot down a few notches. Why on earth would Mavis say that? Garvo knew Mavis had the money but Mavis knew what Garvo's unspoken plan was.

"Ha! Just like how I'm the king of my own land." Garvo laughed in the bulls face waiting for his opportune moment.

"Really I can! Let me just." The bull brought his free paw back and slapped Mavis across the side of the muzzle, catching him off guard. Not the moment Garvo was hoping for but he took it. He cocked his right arm back and clenched his paw, sending it flying towards the bulls exposed neck. With a solid WHUMP and the ugly sound of the bulls unnatural gasp, their offender pulled his paw off of Garvo and clutched at where he was hit. Garvo quickly jumped to the side and pulled at Mavis who was still staggering.

"Follow me." Garvo panted as he saw the bulls friends rushing them. He began to sprint towards the exit, the rat was hot on his heels.